Metric Analyze

After looking at the metric from the past weeks, the most important metric I believe is how many people visit my page. With that in mind, the page view is an important metric because it tracked are the page views of the page on which a given ad is displayed. This has to be done by the site that is hosting the ad since the ad provider has no way of knowing this data. A page view is typically counted when the page begins to output markup from the server. Page views are important because they are a checkpoint for how many impressions to expect for a given ads. For example, if there are 1,000 page views for a single page during a specific time but 100,000 ad impressions, that could mean something is very wrong. 

Another important metric is traffic source. After looking at Google Analytic, 51.7% people visit my site through Social Media Source. The other 48.3% from the direct source. I also think the demographic metric is important because it tells you who visited your site. As for my site, 70% are US visitors, 20% are Vietnamese visitors and the last 10% are from Germany.

The result for this week is much better from last week due to Social Media. In other to do a bit better, I need a good article to catch the audience attention. A good Title can also make the audience curious and click on the link. After you bring the audience into your website, the next step is to keep them entertain in the site with good content. I believe if I can do all that, my social media advertising will increase more impression. 

Amazon Revenue Model

Digital marketing in its simplest term is the process leveraging on modern digital technology to market goods or services or the process of pulling website traffic or attention through social media sites; they achieve this by creating content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it across their social network platforms.

First and foremost, the company sells goods directly. A percentage of products are offered to buyers through Amazon's online storefront with a small markup, and inventory is kept in the company's large network of warehouses. Most consumers visit the company's site assuming its products are less expensive and readily available for purchase and shipping.

The business model is very simple. After customer purchase transaction, Amazon will offer a button to subscribe to Amazon News. When customer click accept, Amazon will gather all the past data from this customer and create a Newsletter base on that user preferences. The Newsletter will be sent out every 2 days to capture the user attention. There will be an article that would be interesting to the user and some keyword to trigger the user the urged of buying. The goal is to get more traffic into Amazon.com

What is CAN-SPAM Act & How Macy's performance in the Social Media War

CAN-SPAM Act stand for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing. That act is a law that establishes the rules for commercial email and commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have a business stop emailing them, and outlines the penalties incurred for those who violate the law. According to the Federal Trade Comission's website, For every single email that violates the CAN-SPAM Act, the FTC will fine you $16,000. If the company is caught being non-compliant for a list say 20,000 email, well we can do the math of multiply. Below are the list of Do and Don't which summarize the CAN-SPAM Act. The full detail can be found at FTC's website.  

DO

• Do include your valid physical postal address in every email you send out.
• Do provide a clear and obvious way to opt out of every email you send out, and honor the unsubscribe within 10 business days.
• Do use clear "From," "To," and "Reply to" language that accurately reflects who you are. This applies to the person or business sending the message, as well as the domain name and email address.

DON'T

• Don't sell or transfer any email addresses to another list.
• Don't make it hard to unsubscribe from emails. You cannot 1) charge a fee 2) require a recipient to provide personally identifying information beyond an email address, or 3)make recipients take extensive steps other than simply replying to an email or visiting a single page on a website to unsubscribe themselves from your emails.
• Don't use deceptive subject lines in your emails that misrepresent the contents of your message.

After analyze my email for the past week, the email that caught my attention the most is the one start with the percentage of discount on the subject email. The reason why it caught my attention because how much money I would save if I clicked on that email. I believe that I would save some money when I open that email and buy the products. For example, When I saw Macy's email, the subject line stated "Things we love: extra 20% off & a long weekend!", the first thought went through my mind was "I can save 20% off 100 dollars I spend at Macy. Macy already make me think to spend $100 dollars at their stores. If this message can reach out to 1000 consumers, and all that consumers thinking like me, Macy just generate $100,000 income.

 The emails are compliant with the CAN-SPAM act. The only change I would make for Macy's promotion email is that include the message inside the email instead just provide us link to click on it and direct us back to their main website. However, the subject line "Extra 25% off: Men's Private Sale & Clearance ends Sunday!" does catch my attention every time. In that subject line, it has the percentage of discount, which interest me, and Men Private Sale, which made it personal level, caught my attention every time I open my email.

According to the internet retailers, Mayc's web sale keep growing in the first quarter for the department store chain that is No 6 in the Internet Retailer 2016 top 500. Chief financial officer Karen Hoguet reiterated in a call with investment analysts that Macy’s will continue to pursue an omnichannel strategy of linking its bricks-and-mortar stores with its websites, Macys.com and Bloomingdales.com, and its mobile sites and apps. Hoguet also pointed out that Macy’s recently had been ranked “as the sixth largest online retailer in America,” an apparent reference to the 2016 Top 500 Guide released last month. Macy’s does not report its online sales separate from total sales, saying that the way consumers move between stores and the web today blurs the line between store and online sales. Macy's also take step to advertise on social media as well but the result is not good. While Macy’s Inc. is bullish on social media—and Pinterest in particular—this holiday season, so far it has found that few consumers are transacting via buyable pins.

Base on IR's website, “Customer adoption of buyable pins has been slower than we anticipated,” says Serena Potter, group vice president of digital media strategy at the multichannel retailer, which is No. 6 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide. “There’s still a lot of Pinterest users who don’t understand how they work.” Macy’s has been using buyable pins, which enable users to purchase a retailer’s products directly within a pin, since Pinterest rolled out the e-commerce-enabled pins last year. But while Potter thinks consumers will come to buy directly on Pinterest in time, for now she primarily views the image-focused platform as a place for “discovery and inspiration,” she says.

There are many strategy elements of direct marketing to help achieve the direct marketing strategy goals. The offer is one of the proposition made by the marketer to the consumer. It has two out of 4P's product and price. The offer also include branding and place as well as other action that affects concrete attributes or product image of the product and the company. A good offer must have a deadline for expiration to let the customer know it's a one of a life time deal. Macy's is really good at doing that. Every promotion email they sent me, it always have the percentage discount and a section of item that really interest me. The list  is where business keep the prospective customer contact information and send out ads and weekly email to them to notify the promotion for the store. Macy's is really good at getting those information from the customer. Macy's already have many coupon which require a Macy's card or a member card. Those coupon could save you up to 35% off on all items. On top of that, when you sign up for Macy's member card for the first time, they will take another 15% off on the entire purchase. I have to admit, I saved a lot of money when I signed up with Macy's for the first time. The media is where Macy's is lacking on. I don't see a lot advertisement on TV for Macy's as much as before. Maybe it's the new era where everything is on mobile.  

References

1. Econsultancy, D. M. (1970, September 09). How Macy's uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://econsultancy.com/blog/63374-how-macy-s-uses-facebook-twitter-pinterest-and-google/

2. Macy's Says Social Media Strategy Begins with Good Content. (2013, November 01). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Macys-Says-Social-Media-Strategy-Begins-with-Good-Content/1010351

3.  CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

4. 10 Email Marketing Spam Laws You Need to Know About. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/resources/10-email-marketing-spam-laws-you-need-to-know-about

5. Abby Callard Associate Editor. (n.d.). Macy's takes more steps to link its stores to the web. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.internetretailer.com/2014/09/16/macys-takes-more-steps-link-its-stores-web

Amazon - Business Models

     Amazon operates under a business model with many moving parts. First, the company sells products directly to the consumer. Percentages of goods are presented to buyers through Amazon's online front page with a little markup. The inventory is kept in the company's largest network building. The consumer always thinks items on Amazon are less expensive and readily available for purchase and 2 days shipping. Amazon also provides another platform for other companies to sell the product to buyers. Product sold through Amazon's partner retailer are normally less common items or those with a higher purchase price. That will allow Amazon stay away from holding slow-moving items that could lower the profit margin. While Amazon does not charge a fee to list the items for sale but the company does hold a small percentage of the sale price as commission.

     Amazon also has a subscription-based business model which call Amazon Prime. Under Prime account, the consumer pays an annual fee to secure the free two days shipping on eligible items. Prime member also have access to streaming media such as music or video. Amazon also creates more benefit for Prime membership such as Prime Now and Hotwheel. Prime Now is where the consumer can order item and will get it deliver to their address within 1-2 hours. Hotwheel is where customers can order food and get it deliver to their address within 1 hour.

     If Amazon would use a different business model such as Infomediary model, which mean to resell useful data from the customer, I believe that the company would not become a famous e-commerce today. 10 years ago, Amazon could just collect all the data the company gathered from the consumer and sell it off to a marketing company and make a chunk of money. A lot of marketing company would put a big bid for consumer behavior's data. Those marketing will use those data to put ads on the internet while you browse around. The CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, had the long-term vision for the company. He planted the seed in the customer from the start when the company still selling the book. He made the customer feel safe for the transaction, the customer receive their product and this company is trust worthy. Now he uses the data that he collected to sell the more useful item to the consumer. Due to that reason, the company continues to success and grow bigger.                                                                                                                                                            

Amazon - The Big E-Commerce

    Amazon.com is a big e-commerce from Amazon. Amazon slowly start to have lower prices than all the competitor such as Wal-mart, Best Buy, Frys etc...

     What make Amazon stand out is the ability to carry all things the customer need. Amazon list over 1 million items on its' website. Amazon has everything consumer need from clothes, kitchen tool, electronic stuff, gardening stuff. That like saying Amazon = Macys, Safeway, Best Buy and Home Depot. The consumer can buy a needle on Amazon or the consumer can buy a 3D TV 70" inches on Amazon. The consumer must love to go to Amazon website because it's a place that have everything consumer need.

     Another benefit Amazon does offer is the subscription for household items such as: toilet paper, paper towel, soap, dish washer soap, etc... Amazon track consumer habit of ordering those items throughout the month and will give the consumer an option to subscribe to those items and the consumer will save 2 dollars every purchase. Another tactic from Amazon to keep the customer buying items on Amazon's website. When the customer subscribe to those household item, it is rare that the consumer will unsubscribe because those item being us daily.

     Lastly Amazon know that not everyone can wait patiently for 5 days for their item to arrive. Amazon add in a Prime Membership for 2 days shipping. The consumer can get their item in 2 days with a Prime membership. Of course the Prime membership is not free. The cost for the membership is $99 yearly. With the Prime membership, consumer get more benefit with Amazon such as Amazon music, Amazon Video (similar to Netflix) and lastly Prime Now (same day delivery service).

     With all those services and perks that was offer by Amazon, Amazon increase the value of the Prime membership. Amazon is one of the company that successfully using the power of the strategic drivers of the internet. Amazon was able to figure out what the consumer really need and deliver to the consumer directly.